Faith Formation, Christian Education, or Other: Shaping Ministry in Your Church

1
Faith Formation, Christian Education, or Other
Shaping Ministry in Your Church

• Congregations Alive! Energizing the Streams of
  Faith
• First Plymouth Congregational UCC, Englewood, CO
• February 8, 2013

2
The Power of Language

• Beyond the words we use or speak, this concern
  expansive language recognizes the power of
  language to shape, if not create, reality and to
  structure relationships, whether in the church or
  in the world. Exclusive language limits our
  perceptions of reality and thereby distorts.
  Thus, inclusive language has implications for the
  way we perceive God, things, and concepts, as
  well as persons.
• Reuben A. Sheares II

3
Naming this Ministry

• Christian Education
• (Christian) Faith Formation
• (Christian) Faith Development
• Religious Education
• Spiritual Formation
• Discipleship
• Other?

4
Christian Faith Formation

• What is Faith Formation?
• An engaged process of learning and practice
  integrated throughout all aspects of
  congregational and daily life

5
Language/Vocabulary

• Definitions from the United Church of Canada,
  Seeds of Change Exploring a New Approach for
  Faith Formation and Christian Education, 2005.
• Christian Education
• Signals a desire to have a more defined focus in
  terms of learning about faith and developing
  skills for living faithfully
• May be understood as a large process in which
  learners are teachers and teachers are learners
• People who use this term take seriously new
  developments in educational theory that can be
  applied to the Christian education task
• Can be solely understood as or limited to Sunday
  School, children and youth education, or formal
  Bible study

6
Language/Vocabulary

• Faith Formation
• Signals a desire to differentiate from a school
  model and a view that faith is limited to ideas,
  doctrines or practices to be learned
• An understanding that faith is being shaped and
  actively shaping our lives in terms of a total
  environment of church, home, family, and world

7
Language/Vocabulary

• Spiritual Formation
• Focuses on the practices of faith, mostly
  traditional practices regarding prayer and
  connection with God
• Is associated with a renewal of ancient and
  contemplative prayer and practices in the church
  (ancient-future)
• Term may appeal to those of younger generations
  and people in the spiritual and/or religious
  category and signifies less association with
  traditional Christian education models of
  learning

8
Language/Vocabulary

• UCC National Listening Campaign on Christian
  Faith Formation and Education
• Individual Vocabulary Use Congregational
  Vocabulary Use

9
Language/Vocabulary

• Discussion
• What vocabulary/language does your congregation
  use?
• How does it shape or inform the way in which this
  ministry is carried out in your setting?
• In what ways can you be/are you intentional about
  infusing the vocabulary/language of choice into
  the full life of your ministry?

10
UCC Report on Christian Faith Formation and
Education

• Identify where there is energy, insight, and
  fruits
• List best practices
• Articulate a vision for the future
• Develop a strategy for futuring, including
  recommendations on
• The development of resource material in the UCC
• The role and description of any national ministry
  staff position(s)
• Found at www.ucc.edu/education

11
Best Practices

• General Approaches/Pedagogies
• Faith formation is a lifelong endeavor.
• Faith formation in the 21st century requires a
  spirit of adaptation to new challenges.
• Faith formation addresses the diversity of
  peoples spiritual and religious needs.
• Faith formation takes place in a diversity of
  settings in order for faith to be fully
  integrated into individuals lives and contexts.

12
Best Practices

• General Approaches/Pedagogies (cont.)
• Faith formation utilizes a variety of formats and
  technologies for learning and growing in faith.
• Faith formation is both a formal and informal, an
  intentional and an unexpected, process.

13
Best Practices

• General Approaches/Pedagogies (cont.)
• Faith formation requires intentional
  intergenerational activity through communities of
  practice.
• The role of the Christian educator/ leader is not
  primarily to be a singular teacher or
  facilitator, but rather, a co-nurturer.
• The role of the Christian educator/ leader is not
  to be a content creator, but rather, a content
  curator.

14
Best Practices

• Worship, Mission, Discipleship
• There is a strong connection between a
  congregations faith formation and its worship.
• The use of drama, art, and music in faith
  formation has a profound impact on individuals
  and congregations.
• Service and mission provide profound
  opportunities for conversation and on-going faith
  formation.
• Faith formation, when understood within the
  broader context of discipleship, creates a more
  holistic understanding of the task of this
  ministry.

15
Futures

• Toward A Vision of Faith Formation and Education
  in the UCC
• Continuing Testament
• The scriptures and histories of the Christian
  tradition, and of the United Church of Christ,
  possess continual wisdom and meaning for our
  collective life and faith.
• In each new age, the church must respond
  creatively to the spiritual and formational needs
  that it encounters among people.
• Extravagant Welcome
• Persons of all ages are nurtured by continual
  inquiry into Christian faith and experience, as
  well as by the general search for wisdom,
  justice, and beauty in creation.
• Faith formation and education in the UCC is
  informed and strengthened by the diversity of its
  members who offer different approaches,
  resources, and ways of being for the
  transformation and learning of all.
• Changing Lives
• God transforms us through formal and informal,
  expected and unexpected sources and encourages us
  to be open to all seekers and servers of truth,
  justice, and love.
• The formation and transformation of followers of
  Jesus Christ are processes through which lives
  are empowered to engage in service and mission in
  a global society, thereby sustaining discipleship
  and enriching life in all of its dimensions.

16
Futures

• Toward A Vision of Faith Formation and Education
  in the UCC (cont.)
• Specifically, visions of vital faith formation in
  this time and place may perhaps (but not
  definitively) look and feel something like this
• All generations intentionally worshipping
  together, engaging in ritual and sacrament with
  joy and reverence
• People sharing their stories with one another,
  discovering meaning together and connecting them
  with Gods stories
• Individuals and groups practicing their faith
  through embracing spiritual practices or through
  intentionally integrating faith into everyday
  lived experiences
• Generations engaging in acts of service and
  mission within communities and with purposeful
  reflection

17
Futures

• Toward A Vision of Faith Formation and Education
  in the UCC (cont.)
• Faith experiences and learning taking place in a
  variety of customized formats and settings based
  on shared interests
• Facilitators, practitioners, educators, and other
  leaders engaging in continuing learning and
  dialogue through a number of formats, both in
  person and virtually
• A decrease in the need for experts and an
  increase in the need for co-nurturers within
  groups in which all possess equal wisdom
• Individuals and groups utilizing resources based
  on ease of access, user-friendliness of content,
  and appeal to different styles of learning.

18
Faith Practices

• The UCCs Faith Formation resource for the WHOLE
  congregation
• http//www.ucc.org/faith-practices/

• 12 Total Practices
• Giving and Receiving Hospitality
• Blessing and Letting Go
• Praying and Making Ritual
• Honoring the Body
• Living Stewardship
• Giving Testimony and Witness
• Working for Justice
• Encountering Scripture
• Playing and Living Joyfully
• Keeping Sabbath
• Experiencing Beauty
• Discovering Gifts of Ministry

19
Other Resources

• UCC Dialogues on Christian Faith Formation and
  Education
• Dialogue 1 Marcus Borg
• Dialogue 2 Doug Pagitt
• Dialogue 3 Geoffrey Black
• http//www.ucc.org/education
• And, another resource will be coming in time for
  Synod this summer

20

• Contact
• Rev. Dr. Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi
• Minister for Christian Faith Formation Research
• Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Team,
  Local Church Ministries
• 1-866-822-8224 ext. 3866
• hajbik_at_ucc.org